Free Associations: My Week

My husband and daughter both drew me up short this week, reminding me that "other people have real problems" and "don't volunteer if you don't want to do something".  I was a bit busy and whiny one night, after going until 9 or 10 each night.  That's unusual for me.  Our lives are calmer than that most of the time.

Thursday, EM, with much excitement, drove to the city to pick up his hot rod.  It has been at the car upholstery shop for over six weeks.  Instead of hotrod, we call the car the convertible around here, but that doesn't convey to other people that it is his hobby car, so I've started calling it the hot rod to other people.  The last "official" work has been done on that car.  I say "official", because he will always be tinkering with it.  He has been almost lost without it in his garage the past few weeks.  The car now has a new convertible top, carpet lining in the inside and trunk, and door panel linings.  He brought it home at 8 in the morning.  It was his plan that I take off from my work in the early morning to bring back the red car.  But, being our CRT week at school (CRT = state standardized testing), I was testing and there was NO flexibility with that schedule.  

So, at 6:20 PM, we arrived at the car upholstery shop, to pick up the red car, which he had left there.  The shop had closed at 5:00.  As we pulled up, to our shock and dismay,   we could see that the red car had been hit and was wrecked badly.  Someone had backed into the car, pushing it about two feet back.  We (translate: EM) love our cars.  Once we owed a Metro for a short time, and EM even fell in love with that car, proudly showed it off, a car that once couldn't pull four people up a hill.  We once literally had to get out so the car could get up hill.

Anyway, EM is a great shade-tree mechanic.  He keeps our cars in pristine shape.  Most dings are repaired.  EM has bonded with the body shop owner and stops by to visit him on a regular basis.  The inside our cars are kept clean.  AT and I try to clutter the inside of the cars, but we manage to keep it to a minimum.  The oil is changed regularly;  the tires are rotated.  Our favorite white van, that was totaled while we were on vacation in Pennsylvania, had 300,000+ miles on it and showed no signs of stopping.  This newly wrecked red car has 150,000 miles on it and we planned to drive it for many miles more.    

But here's the rub.  When you total a well-care-for  and loved car, the insurance company does not love your car like you do.  Chances are very good that the red car will be totaled.  If so, they will write us a check, which is worth much less to us that the red car is worth to us.  We don't know how this is going to play out.  One possibility, if it is totaled, will be that we buy it from the insurance, and repair it ourselves.  We have to wait until Tuesday for the insurance estimate.

AT is trying out to be a cheerleader Saturday.  I am very proud of her.   She had worked hard.  I don't know cheer lingo so I need to study.  She can do a triple back tuck, one of only two girls who can.  Hope that helps.  She has been spent several evenings away from home, practicing.  She also had CRTs this week.  It's been a tough week for her also, and she may have handled it better than I did.  While I'm not really thrilled that she wants to be a cheerleader (would have been more excited about a botball expert), but she has worked very hard on this and I am pleased with her work ethic.  

I can see the end of the year approaching.  I just finished the last of my big evaluations/ paperwork this week.  I will have to schedule a few more meetings, but the most difficult ones are behind me.  I do like my job, but it is very fast paced.  I hit the ground running hard every morning.  This week, a parent asked a paraprofessional if I always moved that fast.  Yes, I do.  My schedule is packed with students and reports.  My organizational style, unfortunately, is to not organize my desk when I have more pressing things to do such as write reports or see children.  I just can't justify making my desk pretty when there are more pressing things to do.  This week, I just may get to clean off that desk!  We're out of school on May 18th.  I already feel relaxed on Sunday evenings, knowing that the more relaxing days are coming soon.  I already have my list of projects.  Whoops!  That doesn't sound relaxing.  Well, I plan to work and relax. 

Oh, and what a treat!  Friday, I raced a tornado.  We were expecting an unsettled weekend, weather-wise, but expected it to start after school.  Friday, the buses were loaded about 15 minutes early, to try to get students home before the tornado hit.  Two years ago, we had a horrible tornado at our school and community (not in Norman proper, where I live).  There was a death, debilitating injuries, and homes blown away.  Our administration building was blown away.  So we're a bit scared from it.  Friday, the buses all left and I left at my regular time.  Apparently, the buses were called back to the school and some people stayed until after five o'clock.  Our area survived the tornado, luckier than some other areas in the state.  

Free associations:  the end.